1. Hıa Tóaqzu? / What is Toaq?
This book is a textbook for Toaq. Toaq is a constructed language, or conlang: a human language created with a purpose, like Esperanto or Toki Pona. The name is pronounced .
What, then, is its purpose? Toaq is a loglang, in the tradition of Loglan and Lojban. Conlangs in this family investigate the interaction between logic and language. Specifically, in Toaq, each valid sentence has a single way to parse its grammar, and then calculate its meaning by following a certain algorithm.
(To avoid any confusion or debate about the precise definition of the word loglang, we sometimes also refer to this goal by saying that Toaq is monoparsing.)
At the same time, Toaq is also an artlang. It tries to achieve its loglang goals in a way that still feels like a natural language. Its design weighs “logic” with elegance and aesthetics.
Essentially, Toaq is a formal language in which you may talk about everyday things. It looks like this:
Jueq há ké kubolue róı ké tıuq ba.
Mix the egg yolks and the sugar together.Haıda ní sheq téqna nha, hóꝡa jóm fıe!
This blade shall lay waste to thee, vile demon!Foaına, Tóaqzu bï, sá jıoqjuao nä, tıembo tú kuna zujuaodue tó shí chateı, lâ muaogaı há ké kunateı hoqbo, rúbıe jıoq há ké muı hôq lîeı jíoqjuao da.
Specifically, as for Toaq, there is an algorithm J, so that each valid sentence has only one way to parse its grammar, and then calculate its meaning by following J.« Bu deq kuıdo jí pó áq, kushe », ïe kuq Álısı hóa kı,
« kûı kú, ꝡá bu eq jí áq dâ. »
“I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir,” said Alice, “because I’m not myself, you see.”
Toaq exists at the intersection of human languages and formal languages, and may be analyzed using tools from either world. This textbook sets out to teach Toaq more or less as though it were a natural, human language. The main parts of the text stay friendly, and focus on helping you understand and communicate in Toaq.
From time to time, there will be “asides,” in colored boxes, explaining what is really going on behind the scenes, but these are merely supplemental to the main texts and explanations in the book. You will encounter the following kinds of asides:
Grammar aside
This box contains grammar details. For example, instead of simply telling you that shao nuo means want to sleep, it might point out that this construction is known as a serial verb.
Semantics aside
This box contains semantic details. For example, it may point out that Nuo jí da asserts the existence of a sleeping event at some definite, but unspecified time.
Culture aside
This paragraph contains cultural details. For example, it may tell you that nuotoa are words dreamt up by Toaq community members in their sleep, like naqdelıq tomboy.
It may be wise to skip over technical asides on a first reading of the book, and then, once you’ve become more comfortable with Toaq, read the book again and engage with the contents of the asides as well.
Versions of Toaq
Toaq’s development has taken it through multiple versions. Each new version is named by a new Greek letter. Toaq Alpha (2013) and Toaq Beta (2017) served as predecessors to a planned “final version” of the language. The next version, in 2021, was called Gamma by the community, and released roughly alongside a tutorial called Toaq with Ease.
In the process of formalizing this language by writing a parser, it became clear that the language needed some far-reaching changes to meet its goal, leading to the development of Toaq Delta in 2022. The formalization process continued with work on a new parser, called Kuna. Questions that came up during the development of this new parser, in turn, inspired some new ideas about the syntax and semantics.
This course aims to document a version of “community Toaq” that incorporates these modern ideas in a moderate way. For an official description of Toaq Delta by its author, see the reference grammar.
Which proposals are included?
It’s Toaq Delta + Simple Focus + Pronoun structure + Some Scope Creep + Kıazıu + Eatoaq’s complementizers, pendents, generics, discursives, variable names (but not the three-tone system, middlethought connectives, etc.)
How to use this textbook
This textbook serves as the “post-Delta” answer to Toaq with Ease, from which it inherits a few qualities:
- Each lesson is structured around a small dialogue, followed by explanations.
- The book aims to teach both vocabulary and grammar, following actual usage.
- By the end, the reader should be able to communicate in simple Toaq.
To study the vocabulary in the book, you can use this deck for the flashcard program Anki. This deck is automatically generated; as chapters get added to the textbook, you can download it again to add the latest cards to your copy of the deck.
No English translations are given to the dialogues. You are encouraged to repeat the contents of each lesson until you can understand the dialogue without much trouble. If you have any questions, check out the Toaq Wiki, or ask us on Discord. Taıba!